We all know eyeglasses come in countless shapes, sizes, and styles. The same can be said for the materials used to make them. Everything from metals, plastics, wood, and even carbon fiber has been used to made specs.
So how do you turn all these various type of materials into a beautiful and function pair of glasses? The honest truth is that there are tons of different ways to manufacture glasses, but the glasses in our collection are all handmade from dedicated eyewear designers. Let’s walk through this process…
DESIGN
Just like any great piece of art, high-quality eyeglasses start with inspired design. Eyewear designers will typically sketch out their initial concepts by hand, and then they are likely replicated on the computer to have a digital version of the design. If the design makes the cut, it will go on to manufacturing.
MANUFACTURING
A great majority of eyeglasses frames are made from a high-quality plastic also know as acetate. Acetate is a plant based and hypoallergenic plastic; know for being flexible, strong, and lightweight. Eyeglasses makers have many different acetates at their disposal, and they will use them depending on the color, weight, strength, and finish they are looking for.
The acetate is colored, pressed, and processed. Each manufacturer as their own process, but the end result is a solid piece of acetate, which is carved into eyeglasses frames. From there workers carve, polish, engrave, and add other components the glasses by hand. The last step usually involves measuring and adding markings to the frames to get them ready for retail sale.
Check out this video from Lafont that walks through the entire process…